A Different Path Taken
by bloodmoon13
Summary: Kyouko decided not to go with Sho to Tokyo but still found a way to help him rise to stardom.
1. Prologue

**I have a bunch of unfinished stories but unfortunately this idea won't leave my mind and I've just fallen in love with this series. So please enjoy. I've changed the story a bit. **

**First, Kyouko never went to Tokyo with Shou, but still helped him in a big way. However, they are both still in the entertainment business. I just changed the way they got there. ****Everything else will be revealed. This right now is just the prologue though. A bit short but the other chapters will sure to be longer.**

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_Prologue_

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"_Shotaro!" _

_Shotaro's heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the sound of someone calling his name in the dead of night. He turned to face whoever had called out his name to see his childhood friend and companion, Kyouko, running towards him with something strapped to her back, her kimono silently moving in the night air. She came to a stop in front of him, clutching something to her chest. _

"_What are you doing here?" he demanded, looking to see if anyone had followed her. _

_She winced at seeing him a bit angry at her, but she had something to give and was determined to give to him before he left for Tokyo, and possibly never return again. The fifteen-year-old girl was the only one who knew why the only son and heir of the family who owned the main branch of Japan's most prominent inns was sneaking around in the middle of the night with a backpack full of clothes and a guitar in hand. _

"_I'm sorry," she apologized, bowing low. "I came to give you something." Kyouko stood back up and looked at him in the eye. _

_Shotaro crossed his arms impatiently. "Well, what is it? I have to go right now." He had a train to catch that would soon take him away from his unwanted fate of marrying some local girl and taking over the inn like his parents wanted. No. He was meant for much bigger and better things than just a boring life of the inn._

"_I know." She bowed her head, sadly, knowing that this was probably the last time she'd talk to him again. "I came to give you this." She held out a thick envelope to him. He looked at it and then at her, not knowing what to do. _

"_What is it?" he asked. _

"_Something that I hope will be of some help to you," she answered, still not meeting his gaze. _

_Shotaro grabbed the envelope and opened it, gasping in surprise. In his hands was probably, at least, 100,000 yen. He gaped at her in disbelief. How on earth had she managed to get a hold of this much money? _

_Sensing his astonishment, Kyouko spoke. "It's money that I've saved over the years from a few odd jobs I've had here and there. I'm sorry it can't be more." Not hearing any response yet, Kyouko quickly pulled out what was strapped to her back and held it out in front of her, hoping that it would do the trick. Having mistaken his silence for anger, she continued to speak. "I know about the fights between you and your parents, and the last thing I want is for you to be unhappy here, but I hope that it will help you a bit in Tokyo."_

_The boy in front of her wasn't mad, he was just surprised. Now before him was something that took away his astonishment of the money and directed it to the brand new electric guitar being presented to him. It truly was beautiful; the body was a deep red color; sleek and styled with a unique black rose at the edge, and most importantly, it was just the instrument that would say just how cool he truly is. _

"_Please accept this and take it with you." She bowed again, offering the guitar to him. _

_Shotaro reached out and took it in a daze, unable to believe the gift that he was being given. He strummed the fresh new chords and marveled in the overall craftsmanship of the guitar. This was something that was sure to come in handy on his way to being a star. The smooth surface felt perfect in his hands. He was taken out of his daze when Kyouko stood back up and watched as Shotaro strummed the chords before strapping the guitar onto his back. _

"_Thank you, Kyouko." He smiled at her._

_Kyouko blushed and smiled back, a feeling of happiness swelling inside of herwhen she saw that he liked her gift, even though she had declined when he had asked her to go with him to Tokyo, she still wanted to see him succeed and helping him in this small way made her happy. Biting her lip, she addressed him nervously, "Shotaro?"_

"_Yeah."_

_She hesitated before finally blurting it out, "Promise that you'll make it."_

_Shotaro smirked. "Of course I'll make it," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "This is _me _we're talking about. Pretty soon this face will be all over Japan."_

_Kyouko couldn't help but grin at his usual arrogance. It reassured her in some way that he'd be alright, even though she wouldn't be there watch over him, like she had been doing for years, ever since Shotaro's family had taken her in. Deep inside her she knew that he would be alright. _

"_Of course." She nodded in agreement. _

_Shotaro sighed and looked over his shoulder, towards the road that would take him to the train station. "Well, I guess I'll see you then," he said smoothly, turning to go. _

_Kyouko nodded, "Good-bye, Shotaro." She stood there in the night air, hands folded and posture perfect, just like she had been taught, and watched as her friend disappeared down the road and out of her life._

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**Okay there you have it. For everyone who doesn't know 100,000** **yen is about the same as 10,000 American dollars. **


	2. Field Trip

**At last the next chapter. It's longer than the previous chapter so please enjoy. **

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_**Chapter 1**_

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The president of one of the biggest talent agencies in all of Japan was someone who, despite his _unusual _and completely unorthodox methods, was a man who knew how to judge and deal with people; he was also someone whose presence held a regal air to that made people take him seriously, no matter his wardrobe choice of the day. But this was one case that even _he_ couldn't deal with.

His granddaughter…Maria.

The child was always up to mischief but it had never been this bad. It was one thing for her to cause some minor inconveniences around the agency but no one had ever gotten hurt. For some reason she had gone to the agency's training division instead of the administrative department. The situation was puzzling to Takarada Lory, he glanced around the room as the students there cleaned up the mess caused by his young charge, there had to be a reason for the sudden change in environment for the seven year old.

Now they were unable to find the one responsible for causing such turmoil, who had seemed to suddenly disappear into thin air, with none of the other LME employees seeing even a hair of the little girl. President Takarada couldn't suppress a sigh, if his grandchild was actually hurting people he was worried about the group of students who were to be visiting the LME agency today. He had to find her and try to talk to her about what was wrong; if that didn't work then he could always ask Ren to talk to her. The little girl was an absolute angel around him, so maybe he would have better luck than the president.

He gave his good-byes and took his leave, ensuring the instructor that he would immediately have someone come and replace what had been broken by Maria, and apologize sincerely on behavior of the mischievous girl before setting out to look for her. He was supposed to go and meet up with the students from Kyoto but right now he had to attend to more pressing matters at hand. He had called and had informed one of the managers, Takenori Sawara, to please be there to greet the arrivals. Lory figured that Maria would show up sooner or later and he'd still be able to go and greet the new students.

He just loved making an entrance.

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"Alright, everyone please listen up!" The teacher stood and clapped her hands to get the attention of the excited teens. "We'll be arriving at the LME Agency in a few minutes, now then remember, you are representing our school and Kyoto, so be on your best behavior. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Kibishii sensei." The students chorused.

"Good," she said. "Now then, there will be someone there to greet us before we begin the tour, who will explain how our day will go." Kibishii sensei stopped right talking when she realized that her charges were no longer paying attention, and settled back in her seat. There was no use wasting her breath she sighed.

It was to be expected. The idea of a field trip to one of Japan's top talent agencies was met with huge positive responses from the students, who were all hoping to get to see just what it took to be a star. There was an immediate rush to sign up for the trip seeing as the school could only take about thirty students. The school board had decided to only allow the best students to go in hopes of getting more students involved in their studies. The result was a mad dash to the library and an increase in test scores and completed assignments. Those thirty lucky students had boarded a bullet train early that morning from Kyoto to Tokyo and were now on a bus to the LME agency headquarters.

"Hey, do you think that we'll get to see someone famous?" a girl asked her group of friends near the back of the bus.

"Oh, I hope so!" one answered. "Maybe we'll get to see Sho!" She squealed excitedly.

"I doubt it. Sho is from a different agency than LME."

"Urusai-chan is right, he's from Akatoki," another girl added giggling. "But maybe we'll get to see someone like Matsunai Ruriko!"

"Or, or, or even Ren Tsuruga!"

All the girls on the bus squealed and giggled at the mention of the famous Japanese actor, talking about his looks and the dramas and movies he had been in, and whether or not they'd be able to see him that day, except for one girl who sat near the front away from the other girls. Her eyes diverted towards a small book in her hands about the play her school was to be performing this year during Shunbun no hi festivities. Mogami Kyoko had no interest what so ever in trying out, but her literature teacher had encouraged all of her classmates to read it and get an understanding of it and also to get students to try out.

The bus slowed down and eventually stopped in front of a large building in the middle of Tokyo. The teacher on board got out and gestured for the students to exit in a mildly fashion. As soon as the bus doors had opened there had been a mad dash for the exit.

Kyoko was pushed down over and over again into her seat by a lot of the girls who were exiting, purposely cutting her off every time she tried to get out of her seat, sending completely fake apologies. She ignored them and waited for all of them to go by before finally being able to exit the bus. The high school girl was used to this type of bullying.

Although it had been even worse ever since Shotaro had left for Tokyo last year, to where she was even getting physical injuries, Kyoko stayed true to her best friend and didn't say a word to anyone, not even his parents. It was worth having have endured the even more hateful gazes in school and the even more horrendous bullying such as hiding her clothes after gym class, having her name written over and over again in red ink all over her desk and her locker, and even having the numbers four and nine repeatedly stuck on her back or painted onto her clothes.

Sho's happiness and success made it a small price to pay. Besides, in time she had learned to simply ignore it.

Kyoko held her school sweater closer to her to keep the cold out since it was only February as she and the other students were ushered through the front doors. Kyoko couldn't help to look around with awe at the vast size of the building. One of the teacher chaperones went up to the front desk of the lobby to sign them in, in a few moments they had returned followed by someone else.

"Students, please show your respect and courtesy to our guide for this time Mr. Sawara."

A middle aged man stepped forward and waved warmly at the group of students. "Hello, I am Takenori Sawara and I am one of the managers here at LME. Now if you'll all follow me we will begin the tour at the LME music section."

The tour progressed on, unbeknownst to the tour group; they were being watched carefully and followed closely by a shadow of a seven year old girl. The high school students from Kyoto toured through the music department and to the administrative and management departments and also to the advertisement department before stopping for lunch. Afterwards, they would see the acting department and finally the LME training division.

All the students were in the LME cafeteria enjoying their lunches and happily talking about what they had seen in the last few hours. They had even gotten the chance to meet Bridge Rock and Bo and watch them give them a demonstration of their new show that was to be airing soon.

"Oh! They were all so cute!"

"I know! I'm so glad we got to see at least one celebrity today."

"Hey who knows maybe we'll get to see another one, you never know…"

"Oh I hope so!"

For seven year old Maria Takarada, these group of teenagers all bored her and she was about to cause some mischief. All they talked about was getting a chance to see a celebrity, and she REALLY didn't like how they all hoped to get close to her Ren. She knew that they were all being foolish and childish, they was no way that Ren would ever be interested in any of those gossiping twits. They were just like all the other girls who come here trying to get close to Ren, hoping that he'd some how magically fall in love with them.

_This was going to be easy._

Maria put on her sad and weepy voice and sat down near enough to be heard and got to work.

The sounds of a crying little girl drew the group of female students' attention, making them stop talking for a while to discover the source of the crying. Just like every other adult she's ever done this little act in front of before, the teens began to try and comfort her, asking her what was wrong and hug and hold her telling her that everything would be all right and where her parents were.

"Hey come on, please don't cry. I'm sure that everything will be okay," one girl said, gently rubbing Maria's small back.

"That's right; please smile, even a little bit." Another tried, but Maria just cried harder, making the group of girls panic a bit.

"What should we do?" One asked her friend.

"I-I don't know, do I look like I know a lot about kids?"

"Well who knows anything about kids?"

While the teens from Kyoto tried to figure out a way to comfort the crying child, from hugs, to candy, nothing worked, they had even offered to tell a teacher in order to help locate the weeping girl's parents, but the child refused and shivered with fright at the thought, leaving the older girls at a lost for what to do.

From a short distance away, Kyoko had been watching the whole spectacle from where she was quietly eating her lunch by herself. Without so much as a word she got up and walked over to the cluster of girls and the crying child. A couple of girls had seen her coming over and thought that since she worked at an inn and had to deal with children sometimes, maybe Mogami Kyoko would be able to do something. At least the girl was good for something, other than being the scrape goat and punching bag of the female student population at school, flirting with Fuwa-kun and driving him away from Kyoto.

Maria also caught sight of the strange girl coming towards her with a kind and gentle smile; a warm atmosphere surrounded her slim form that should have had anyone instantly drop their guard. But for some reason the president's grandchild felt like turning or backing away from her as the girl came closer and closer. Some of the teen girls around Maria instinctively sent the newcomer cold and icy glares full of simmering distain, though it didn't affect Mogami one bit. She was use to this sort of hostility.

She reached Maria and bent down to meet here face to face and gentle wiped away the girl's face tears, in an instant the warm and loving smile changed into a look of pure annoyance in a flash, and the once kind amber eyes were replaced with the cold indifferent predatory ones that instantly saw through Maria's act.

Mercilessly Kyoko grabbed both Maria's cheeks and pinched them hard making the little girl give of yelp mostly out of surprised and causing all the other school girls to look on in complete shock at Kyoko's sudden action that was the complete polar opposite of her usual nature.

Maria glanced up at the girl who had done that fearfully, her eyes widened by the look in this girl's eyes. They looked… just like _hers_…

"Hey, do you really think that by crying like that that someone is going to come and rescue you?" There was a cold truth in this girl's words that gave Maria a chill through her body. The little girl was completely too stunned to speak, never had anybody ever just gone out and told her what they truly felt, regardless of whether or not it'd hurt her feelings, since she was, after all, the grand child of LME's president.

Kyoko's cold words seemed to have frozen all the girls there and the coldness in the air seemed to have spread through the room. Sure the female students there had always bullied Mogami, in fact, it was even a game of theirs to see who could come up with the best revenge schemes to make her cry. Kyoko Mogami had always given the impression of a dull, dim-witted, conniving, plain, and mild-mannered girl, but there was no trace of that Kyoko anywhere. In her place was a cold and scary person who spoke clearly without any remorse. It was just too much of a shock.

It didn't long for the spell to be break, unleashing a storm of angry insults and comments directed at Kyoko, who paid them no mind and just left to go back and finish the rest of her lunch. Maria silently watched the strange girl leave, completely mesmerized by her honesty. She barely heard the angry teenage girls around her.

"How dare she say such mean things, that little witch!" One of the girls steamed, glaring at Mogami's retreating back.

Maria felt the arms of someone wrap around her into a hug. "That isn't something to say to a sweet and innocent child in tears!" A blonde fumed. Protectively holding Maria's small form.

"I guess her heart really is of that of an onibaba." One girl whispered to a girl next to her.

"No surprise there, why do you think we always volunteer her to play the role of an oni during the cultural festivals." She replied back before adding wickedly. "She has the face of one anyways." Many of the female students from Kyoto Prefecture secondary school nodded their heads or giggled.

"She will definitely have to be punished when we return to Kyoto." Someone suggested quietly. Immediately there were sounds of agreement and girls began to suggest different ways to punish Mogami Kyoko. The initial hatred for the girl fueled by the coldness she had just displayed towards a crying child gave the female students from Kyoto a reason to harass Mogami like they had when Fuwa Shoutaro suddenly disappeared a year and a half ago.

Kyoko could feel the anger and hatred being directed at her, the intensity was just the same a when Sho had left for Tokyo without telling anyone but her. Not that she cared. Although, to many people, the way she had treated the little girl may have been harsh and cold-hearted, but they clearly didn't understand the way she did that the kid needed to be told the cold hard truth. Crying wasn't going to get her rescued.

Kyoko had learned that a long time ago…

Caught in the middle of a plotting swarm of girls, seven year old Takarada Maria hadn't moved a muscle and stood in a daze that some of the girls present had mistaken as a sign that she was upset.

A brunette leaned down and placed a gentle hand on Maria's shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. Don't listen to what that mean and ugly person told you." She said with a kind smile.

"She's right," one of the brunette's friends added cheerfully. "That girl is just a stupid and plain witch that doesn't have any friends. Alright, so please don't cry. And don't worry we'll be sure to teach Mogami Kyoko a lesson she won't forget when we get back home. Right girls?"

"_Hai!" _The girls all chorused cheerfully, it would be more than their pleasure to torment the girl who had always been hated since the start of their school years together.

"Maria, there you are."

The light-hearted atmosphere and chatter among the girls instantly stopped at the sound of Japan's most desirable man's voice. Everyone in the cafeteria looked up to see the face that they had seen countless time on TV and on movie screens, Tsuruga Ren. Beside him stood a bespectacled gentleman with neatly parted hair and a well trimmed business suit.

Almost all the female population in the room held their breath, as they tried to take in the fact that _the_ Tsuruga Ren had just stepped into the room and that they were in his presence. He casually walked with his long legs towards the group of girls with his usual gentlemanly smile on his handsome face.

Maria's previously sullen face changed completely upon seeing the gorgeous star that she adored to the point of casting love spells on him. "_Ren-sama_!" she cried out as she ran towards him and hugged his legs.

Ren bent over to pick her up into his arms. "Maria-chan, everyone has been looking for you." Maria blinked innocently at him, her eyes full of adoration for him. "It's about what you did at the training center earlier." Maria's gaze hardened as she turned her face away refusing to meet the actor's eyes. Ren sighed, but let it be. He knew that the president would deal with his granddaughter later for sure.

"_**KYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **__I can't believe it! It's _**the **_**Tsuruga Ren**__! __**!!!!!!!!!!"**_

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**There you have it. Please tell me what you think. Also is anyone out there interested in being my beat reader for this story? I really need one. **


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